The Japanese Kappa Monster on Destination Truth

– – Once feared as an evil cross between a demon and a turtle, the Kappa has become somewhat of a Japanese national mascot, more loved than feared and depicted on such innocuous items as lunchboxes. The darker incarnation of the Kappa, however, is blamed for the disappearance of livestock and even children, prompting a segment on a Destination Truth investigation.

Journeying to the location of a recent reported Kappa sighting near Tono, Josh Gates and his team set up infrared and trap cameras to capture any images of the elusive beast, and broke into two groups to sweep the area. They saw a large dark shape in the water, which was later regarded by experts to be a large fish or perhaps an eel. Also checking out skeletal remains of a reported Kappa foot at a Japanese shrine, the team returned with photographs of the same, which were regarded by a mammalogist to be bones of a canine.

The conclusion?–Evidence for the Kappa is not convincing, and the creature exists at the juncture of folklore and animal misidentification…

2 Comments on “The Japanese Kappa Monster on Destination Truth”

Well, if memory serves, most Japanese descriptions of the kappa mention a monkey’s head, with a turtle’s shell and frog-like limbs. Plus, a bowl-shaped depression, on top of the head, in which it could keep water, so as to stay stronger than a man on dry land.

In short: it sounds more like a misidentification of Lewis Carroll’s mock-turtle than anything else!